Only the Brave (16 page)

‘Most but not all – I’d say ninety per cent.’

‘If they’re not all done this evening, Perry, can you finish off in the morning? We can get all we have so far checked on HOLMES then. Ideally, I’d like a good presence around those flats in case someone wants to tell us anything.’

‘What about the area around – anything found of significance?’ asked Perry.

‘Nothing on camera yet,’ said Sam. ‘But lots to look through and lots to come in yet. And a few things we’re waiting for on the ground search. I also started checking around after we found
Jordan
Johnson’s car and I came across Craig Elliott’s car – parked in Regina Street, one along from Sparrow Street. Not sure why it wasn’t in the car park of Harrison House. I’m still checking CCTV images from local shops and houses.’

‘Yes, why didn’t he park his car nearer to his home? There are plenty of spaces available before we commandeered it. Allie, check that out with Elliott, too.’

Allie sighed loudly. He should make his mind up when it was and wasn’t okay for her to go and see Elliott.

Nick and Trevor stared at her long enough to make her feel uncomfortable again before turning back to the team. They exchanged a quick look and then Trevor spoke next.

‘Right, let’s go to it,’ he said. ‘Someone in those flats will have seen something. Anything, no matter how small, may lead us on to something else. Or, if we get really lucky, someone will open his or her mouth. Gossip will have been ripe today – who knows what will come in once Jordan Johnson’s name is formally released. We’ll move back on site first thing after the briefing in the morning, unless we’re needed anywhere tonight. In the meantime, people, let’s crack on.’

Mark sat next to the bed in the hospital, holding Karen’s hand. It was swollen, her fingers the size of sausages because of the steroids. Gently, he rubbed his thumb across the back of it. She looked flushed again. When she had first been taken ill, almost three weeks ago now, both he and Allie had been granted compassionate leave. But as the days had dragged on, they’d both had to return to work. Now they were visiting as much as they could.

It was hard for him to look at Karen without thinking of how much danger Allie could be in if the man who attacked her sister ever got close enough to harm her, too. He knew every precaution had been put into place to keep her safe but still he worried that she might not come home to him one day. This made it raw seeing Karen slipping away, and very real, intensifying his discomfort at the situation.

He looked up as a nurse came into the room. It was Sharon.

‘Hi, Mark, how are you?’ she asked, the pallor of her skin accentuated in the artificial lighting.

‘I’m good. How are you?’

‘I’m fine, thanks. How’s Allie doing?’

‘Bearing up. People don’t stop committing crimes, though, just to suit the police.’

‘You mean that man who was found dead in Smallthorne? Yes, I heard on the news. Such a shame to go like that. Does she have to go in to deal with it? It’s terrible timing for her.’

‘I think she copes better when she blocks it out.’ Mark shrugged. ‘I can’t say I blame her, to be honest.’

‘It’s easier for some people to do that.’ The nurse checked a chart at the end of the bed.

Mark sighed as he loosened his tie. Karen was slowly taking in less of the things that kept her alive. She could die within hours if she had another bleed to the brain. It could be weeks if she didn’t. It was a sad and cruel way to go but they’d been
reassured
that Karen wouldn’t know any pain. She would eventually slip away – or if things got too bad, he and Allie would have to make the heart-breaking decision to switch off the life support when the time came. He knew that would destroy Allie.

Last weekend, he and Allie had chatted again about what their lives would have been like if Karen had never been attacked. Karen would perhaps have got married, started a family even. It was the one thing he regretted not doing with Allie. They would have made good parents but each time the subject had come up, Allie hadn’t been able to face it. For her, there didn’t seem to be any room – it had nothing to do with her career. In the back of his mind, he thought it was the guilt of what had happened to Karen, punishment even.

But Karen hadn’t died. Did he hate her for it? He couldn’t help but wonder how different things would have been if she hadn’t been attacked. If catching the attacker hadn’t remained at the
forefront
of Allie’s mind for the past seventeen years. If there had been room to spare for the two of them to become a family with a child or two. He’d never voiced this to her, wasn’t sure he ever would. He love
d he
r too much to hurt her by saying it, but this niggling feeling that he would have made a good father wouldn’t go away. Allie was nearly forty now – he was forty-four. Neither of them was too old by today’s standards, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be in his sixties when his child was leaving high school. For him, they had left it too late.

He looked at Karen now, sad that she hadn’t had a chance to become a parent either. It had been hard to visit her over the years at Riverdale Residential Home but he hated to see her lik
e th
is even more. And he knew how hard it was for Allie to keep her grief inside her. Since her last case had involved the man who had attacked Karen, twice over the past week she’d broken down as she’d come home from work, tired and emotionally exhausted with keeping up the pretence that it wasn’t getting to her. He’d found her in the shower one night, water on full, sitting cowering in the corner, her arms wrapped around her knees. He’d taken her out and enveloped her in his arms, sat on the bathroom floor with her while she had cried.

He’d cried with her too, his buried feelings of inadequacy
suddenly
overwhelming him. His distress, how scared he was of her leaving the house and never coming back to it. His angst at not being there for her when she needed him most. His panic, which only intensified when she wasn’t with him.

Worst was the feeling that he couldn’t protect her all the time. But he couldn’t let her see that. Allie would see her independence being threatened if he worried too much. He couldn’t bear it if it broke them, if his feelings made her despise him enough to call it quits.

He would never tell her that either.

6.30 P.M.

Craig drove a few streets away from Mary Matthews’s flat and parked up at the back of a row of shops. He reached for the bag that he had thrown into the well of the passenger seat, picked it up and unzipped it. His relief at getting away from Fegg Hayes Road soon turned to frustration and then anger as he clapped eyes on its contents.

He pulled out a pair of curtains, bright frilly fancy things. He threw them to the floor of the car, his hands falling upon netting folded into neat squares, followed by several cushion covers. When his hands hit the bottom of the bag, he clenched them into fists before flinging everything to the floor.

Frantically, he unzipped the two side pockets. There wasn’t enough room to store all the money there but Leah might have had the sense to hide it in a few places rather than keep it altogether. Maybe there were a few bundles stashed there.

The side pockets were empty too.

‘Stupid fucking bitch!’ He slammed the palm of his hand on the steering wheel.

Leah Matthews was going to be in for the hiding of her life.

Leah sat on her sofa, without a clue what to do next. She hadn’t even taken off her jacket. Shivering as the nerves took over, she wished she had never laid eyes on Jordan Johnson and the money that morning. It was all well and good being an opportunist thief but getting into this much trouble wasn’t worth it. If she didn’t owe money to Kenny Webb, if she wasn’t so desperate to pay him back, if she had been able to walk away, she would have left it there, wouldn’t she?

Now, all she could picture was the image of Jordan’s face, beaten, bloody, bruised. What a cruel way for anyone to die. And if the murder had been set up, the perpetrator would most probably be a cruel bastard anyway. She shuddered.

Her phone rang; the caller display screen on her mobile flashed up Stella.

‘You lying bitch!’ Craig yelled. ‘There was no fucking money at your mother’s.’

‘Where’s Stella?’ Leah’s heart skipped a beat. ‘You’ve been to see my mum?’

‘You should never have crossed me, you idiot. I want that money.’

‘But I never said –’

‘I’m going to tear every fucking bone from your body if you don’t tell me where it is.’

Leah disconnected the phone and dialled her mum’s number. If he
had
killed her, it would be her fault.

‘Pick up, pick up, pick up!’

It rang several times, and then ‘Hello?’

‘Mum!’ Leah cried, relief flooding through her. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Oh, I’m fine, duck, but I’ve had a break-in. I was about to ring you but the police have just arrived.’

Leah sat down before her legs gave way.

‘Someone got in through the back. I only left the top
window
open on the catch. The flat is a bit of a mess but I can’t see
anything
missing at the moment. The police said I might remember later.’

‘So you didn’t hear anything,’ she shuddered, ‘or see anyone?’

‘No, I’d had one of those sleeping pills that the doctor gave me last week.’

‘You were in?’ Leah gasped.

‘Yes. I was awake all night thinking they weren’t going to work, got up at six this morning and then I must have dozed off this
afternoon
. Apparently he came in here and then out again while I was asleep.’

‘Oh, Mum.’ Leah could hear the tremble in her voice.

‘I got off lightly, duck. Bernard from next door was found on the back lawn. He fell and hit his head. The police say I had a lucky escape. Bernard was most probably hurt by the intruder, maybe not on purpose, but perhaps pushed to one side because he was disturbed. It was lucky his head didn’t crash on the concrete path instead of the grass. Poor Bernard. This is all my fault.’

‘It isn’t your fault,’ Leah tried to appease her.

‘But if I’d closed my window properly, or been awake, I migh
t –’

‘You might have been attacked, too.’ Leah didn’t want to think about it. ‘I’m so glad that you’re safe.’

‘Well, I don’t think I’ll be venturing out into the back garden for a very long time. I don’t want to be reminded of what might have happened to me if I hadn’t been asleep.’ Leah heard her catch her breath. ‘You don’t think whoever did this will come back?’

‘No, mum. I’m sure they won’t.’

Leah said goodbye and disconnected the call. Elliott, that bastard. Tears of anger pricked at her eyes. How could he do that to her mother? What would have happened if she hadn’t been asleep? If he’d got into the flat and she had seen him?

He must have thought she had hidden the money there. Which meant that now he knew she hadn’t, he’d be coming after her again. Well, he wasn’t going to get the better of her. If he wanted a war, then he would get one.

6.45 P.M.

Allie and Perry walked across to Flynn’s nightclub, fastening their coats against the wind that was building up. The drizzle had stopped for the past half hour. Allie wore a woollen hat to stop her hair from blowing in her face: Perry wouldn’t flatten his hair with a hat but he would get it wet.

‘Are you okay, boss?’ Perry asked as Allie’s strides matched his own. Usually she had to walk fast to keep up with him.

‘Oh, I’m fine,’ her voice was raised. ‘I’m just sick of being told what I can and can’t do. It’s as if I haven’t got a bloody mind of my own.’

‘You haven’t when it comes to your own safety.’

‘Thanks for the vote of confidence,’ she snapped.

‘You know what I mean.’ Perry pulled her back as she nearly stepped out in front of a car that was going too fast. ‘I’m sorry that I’m the one who gets to babysit you but I have to agree with Nick for once. We’re all concerned for you.’

Allie sighed. Of course they were, and if she weren’t so
pig
-headed she would see it for herself.

‘Sorry,’ she relented. ‘It’s just hard for me at the moment.’

They walked in silence past Sentinel House and on to Marsh Street.

‘Who’s meeting us there?’ Perry asked over the noise of a bus going past.

‘Flynn’s isn’t opening this evening so I asked Burgess to gather as many of the staff as he could for us to chat to. He emailed a list to Sam earlier on and she’s been checking through it. I’ve got a couple of uniform coming now too. If we need any more, we’ll go back to individual people tomorrow.’ Allie had put a call out for officers at Harrison House to bring Craig Elliott in but he hadn’t been at his address. ‘For now, you and I can do a quick sweep around and if Elliott shows up, we can nip over there as quick as.’

At the door to Flynn’s nightclub, they were let in by one of the bar staff. He was late teens at a push, straw-thin as well as tall, with layered black hair, a range of tattoos and what seemed to be eyeliner underneath his eyes.

‘Were you working last night, Mr . . . ?’ asked Allie.

‘Baker. Will Baker.’ He pointed to the stairs in front of them and led them up. ‘I was in from eight until about two,’ he said over his shoulder.

‘Did you see Jordan Johnson?’

‘Yeah, I was on the bar. It was pretty busy for a Wednesday because of the party.’

They were at the top of the stairs now and Will showed them into a large room with burgundy velvet seating and matching draped curtains, a floor for dancing in the middle and a bar the length of the left wall. Dotted around the comfy chairs and sofas were about fifteen people. Allie assumed glass collectors and washer-uppers. Bar staff. As Perry started questioning, she went over to Steve Burgess.

‘Do you know if Ryan Johnson came back to the party again after he’d left at midnight?’ she asked.

‘Not as far as I know.’ Steve shook his head. ‘The CCTV
footage
I gave you should tell you for certain.’

‘Thanks.’ Although Allie already had her suspicions that this was right, she wanted to hear it from him too. Of course Ryan could have gone back home to The Gables – there had been enough time. And if Ryan and Kirstie were at home, they could give each other an alibi. They’d have to question them both again. Out of the two of them, Kirstie was bound to slip up with that mouth of hers.

The door by her side opened and a slight woman with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail came in. As she hung up her coat, Allie made her way over to her. She was certain she was the girl from the footage that Kirstie Ryder was arguing with.

‘You were at the party last night,’ she said.

‘Yes, I was working the bar.’ The girl burst into tears. ‘I can’t believe Jordan’s dead.’

‘Did you get on well with him – sorry, what’s your name?’

‘Lauren Michaels. He was great fun if he liked you, not so much if he didn’t. I got on well with him, though. Although nothing like what she was accusing me of.’

‘Who?’

‘Kirstie Ryder, his girlfriend. She had a right go at Jordan and then she had a go at me. She’s bloody mental! Jordan is off limits to anyone – we know that. But I’m not sure why she’s so
possessive
with him, as it’s obvious that they can’t stand the sight of eac
h other.’

‘What makes you think that?’

‘On the outside they put up a good appearance, but up here in the VIP club, they’re often arguing. She turns up unannounced all the time and it always ends up in a fight.’

‘Do you think he was seeing anyone else?’

The girl shrugged. ‘Not that I know of.’

‘Would anyone else know?’

‘They could but I think they might deny it. They look after their own here.’

Allie’s phone rang. ‘I have to answer this,’ she told Lauren when she saw that it was Nick. ‘Thanks for your help.’

After taking the call, Allie disconnected it with a sigh. When she’d left the station, she’d thought she’d got away with not going to the morgue, but he did want her there now. It was going to take all night to interview the staff at Flynn’s at this rate if they
trickled
in so she radioed through for the uniform backup. Still, one thing seemed to be coming through loud and clear: Jordan and Kirstie had not been the loving couple that Kirstie would have the
m believe.

And if that was the case, why had they been keeping up a united front?

Steve would be glad when the police had gone from Flynn’s. Even though they weren’t opening so there was no rush, he still didn’t want them there. Interfering, poking their noses in. It put him on edge that he would slip up, too.

His mobile rang.

‘Burgess,’ he answered when he saw it was an unavailable number.

‘Everything good there?’

Steve sniggered as he recognised the caller. ‘It’s going okay for now. A slight problem but nothing we can’t sort.’

Laughter. ‘How’s my girl hanging on?’

‘She’s okay. Played a blinder by causing a commotion last night.’

‘And she and Ryan got their story straight?’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Good. Make it happen then, yes?’

Steve nodded. ‘Oh, yes, we’ll make it happen.’